Past, Present, Future
by CaroAmy
Summary: “So tell me, Amy Rose, which of the three did you truly love?” a voice asked. “All three, truly.” Who did Princess Amelia di Rosa/Amy Rose/ Rose Amelia truly love?


"So tell me, Amy Rose, which of the three did you truly love?" a voice asked.

"All three, truly."

"That's preposterous. Tell me, or I will shoot," the voice hissed.

"Do you really believe so?"

She earned a slap after that answer. Sitting with her hands tied behind her back, on a dark wooden chair in the middle of what looked like a cell of cement, located somewhere-God knows in which part of that godforsaken world-the hedgehog was being interrogated by God knows what. Some hooded creeps with hunchbacks. She had been taken captive two days before, and for these two days she had been inside that cell. Only water had been given to her, except the tuna sandwich the creeps had given her before the interrogation.

"You have lived. You have outlived plenty, too many. But, in order to pay the price of your long life you have suffered through endless wars, famine, and our capture. And like any good story, our capture became the climax of your life and after this knowledgeable meeting your life will meet its resolution. Tell me, did it ever become bothersome to be born again and again, while still remembering most of your past? You must have one full memory bank," another voice entered the conversation.

"Be quiet, Muslik. She has to answer our questions," the other voice reprehended.

"Please, stay put for a minute. Relax, allow her to answer."

"No. In some lifetimes I would have said yes, but overall it was a privilege to see history and feel history for so long," she answered proudly.

"Not even when you saw _him _again?" the second voice pressed on. He was clearly amused.

"I must admit it was a shock, but it wasn't truly him. It was a reincarnation, manmade or not."

"Enough questions Muslik. Who did you love, Princess Amelia di Rosa, Lady Amelissa Rosé, Ames Rosa, Amy Rose, Rose Amelia… _Amy the Hedgehog_?"

"I loved one in the past, another in the present, and one in the future," she said.

_Past_

Wearing a long, green silk gown Princess Amelia di Rosa promptly walked down the extensive hallway. The noise of her shiny green high heels echoing. Her father had required her presence at the meeting, although Princess Amelia did not quite understand why. Being a female she did not have much power or choice. Perhaps this meeting was because of her age. Princess Amelia had turned seventeen a month ago and was still unmarried, soon enough she wouldn't be fit to marry. Why? Because her father loved her much, and did not wish to see her unhappy with her partner. Bizarre for the time, but it had occurred.

Her feet yelled in pain with every step Princess Amelia took. She shouldn't have worn these shoes, they always hurt her feet. At night she'd have to soak her feet in cold water to ease the pain. Finally she reached the meeting chamber. After a soft knock she was ordered to come in. A servant, dressed in a blue outfit like most other servants, opened the door and allowed the Princess to enter.

"Amelia, please take a seat," her father said. Obeying she sat down next to him. "I'm afraid if has come to this… we must chose a partner for you. I know how you feel about this, my daughter, but we cannot avoid it any longer. Unless you wish to remain unmarried, which I cannot allow! Well, I have decided to invite some people to attend a very personal ball. Nobles as such. Many you have met already, but I had to invite them anyway. However, a few will be coming from outside. I believe it's a wonderful opportunity to find your partner, wouldn't you agree?"

Amelia who had kept quiet while her father spoke responded, "I wish such could be avoided… I wish I could have found the perfect person without formalities or balls. But as you like to call me, I am naïve. Perhaps I shall never meet that one person… Tell me father, are they old brutes? You know I do not wish to remain married all my life with an old brute who cannot treat me decently."

"Fear not, they are all fairly young. The eldest being twenty-five. Of course their parents are coming as well, and sisters. We mustn't forget other ladies must be present in order to have plenty of people dancing and enjoying themselves!" Quite the liberal father, it seemed.

"I see. I thank you for understanding father. I will try my hardest to find an appropriate partner at the ball. When will it be?"

"Three days from today. Please speak with Joanne about the gown and what not. Lady Eleanor, your aunt, will be taking care of the decorations and such. I do not have time to pay attention to those details. Speak with her if you wish for something special to be present. You are dismissed Amelia."

With a small 'excuse me' she left the chamber and paced back to her room. There she called Joanne and discussed with her the details of her gown. At night, with her feet inside a bucket of cold water she began imagining how her prince would be and how he would look like. Still, no matter how beautiful she imagined him, she felt afraid. Afraid of being disappointed, afraid of not falling in love.

Three days later the ball was held, as promised. In an immensely spacious room with an orchestra, a buffet table, tables with snow white cloths on top and comfortable chairs the guests began dancing, chatting or simply observing. Princess Amelia, who was to be introduced along with her father in a few minutes, stood outside the door. She was wearing a floor length, relaxed fit bodice, red gown with large medieval bell sleeves, the cuffs of soft silver, a silver medieval drop belt and neckline embroidered with white jewels.

Royally she entered the ball and once she had been introduced along with her father she joined her friend and cousin Anne. She was greatly complimented, plenty saying she looked dazzling. She had been asked to dance by hedgehogs and foxes, yet not one had touched her heart the way she wished. Tired, she stepped outside to the veranda. The stars twinkled as they always did, nothing had changed. It had been foolish to expect love to appear.

"If you are not careful you will fall off," a somber voice warned the Princess as she inclined upon the marble railing. Blushing she turned around in order the face the owner of the voice. A handsome night colored hedgehog with red streaks gazed into her eyes. His eyes were crimson, a rare color.

"Thank you for worrying," she managed to reply.

"I was not worried about your well being," he retorted. Princess Amelia cocked up an eyebrow. "If you had fallen while I was standing here I would have to help you. Which would not be much of an issue, but rather bothersome. However, in the case I failed to save you, you would have fallen and probably someone would try to insinuate that I had pushed the oh-so beautiful Princess Amelia. I do have a reputation to maintain," he stolidly explained.

"Is that so? And may I ask who you are?" Princess Amelia asked rather annoyed. She couldn't quite remember the last time someone had gotten to her nerves the way this gentlehog had in such few seconds.

"Ah, let us test your intelligence shall we? Penumbra," he simply said.

"I see… sir Shadow," Princess Amelia quickly said. She turned back to look at the stars, but managed to see the hedgehog's faint smile upon his lips. "You do not smile often, do you?"

"I am not fond of smiling without reason," he answered as he approached her, but still keeping his distance.

"Hm, it looked that way. Perhaps that can change," she smiled.

"What are you smiling about? Do not tell me that in the midst of your naïveté you have supposedly fallen in love?" He questioned arrogantly.

"My dear sir Shadow, love takes longer. First comes attraction, do you not agree? In any case, I believe you can say I have found _something_ in the midst of my naïveté," she answered now looking at him in the eye.

"I must forewarn you, do not judge a book by its cover."

Sighing Princess Amelia turned showing off all her radiance as the moon floated behind her. The hedgehog in front of her could not disagree with the fact that Princess Amelia was beautiful. He certainly felt attracted to her.

"Oh, but I do not. Will not," she could not understand why, but patience had returned and her stomach kept reminding her of how nervous she truly was. Something about that hedgehog certainly made her change. She liked the feeling. Placing his hand on top of hers, which had been resting on the marble railing, he said,

"Did you know, Princess Amelia di Rosa, that I am from here? That I have attended every party, every ball that has been hosted in your castle by your parents?"

"Surely you jest! I have never seen you here," she said surprised, and blushing still due to the warmth of his hand and his proximity.

"I assure you that it is the truth. I always left early. I have never been much into parties. In fact I was about to leave before you came outside. I must say I am glad I stayed."

Flushed, Princess Amelia smiled. Content she held his hand. Tomorrow she would tell her father she had chosen. A year from then the noble sir Shadow would be married to her Highness Princess Amelia di Rosa. Three years from then a son would be born.

_Present_

He ran away. Again. Although Amy had stopped chasing him, hugging him or even calling out her love for him he still couldn't spend more than two minutes talking to her. Was she that intimidating? Nah. Amy Rose? No. With a soft giggle, since she did find adorable the way he ran away, she turned back and began walking towards a local café. Nothing like chocolate ice-cream when the blue blur runs away when he's… nervous?

Much to her surprise a two tailed fox was sitting at a table. Cheerfully she approached him and sat down next to him. Both chatted about trivial matters, laughing when appropriate and when hilarious memories were shared. When Amy finished her ice cream the blue blur entered the café and walked over to their table. He high fived Tails and then looked at Amy as if he hadn't noticed her presence before.

"Hi Sonic," she greeted.

"H-hi Amy… Tails and I have to, you know, go over to his workshop to… check on the Tornado!" He lied. Tails noticed this and chuckles. Sonic managed to be even shier and cowardly when it came to girls than a ten year old! He defiantly needed a little push.

"Say Sonic, why don't you keep Amy company for a while? I need to run some errands before we can go to my workshop. I prefer doing them alone, so while you wait for me just stay here with her. We'll meet up in like an hour at my workshop, okay?" Tails proposed. Sonic's confused expression almost caused Tails to laugh uncontrollably, but he managed to keep it inside. Coming up with no good excuses Sonic simply said "okay".

A rather cheerful Tails paid his bill and left the café leaving behind the two hedgehogs at the table. Sonic immediately ordered a chili dog causing Amy to laugh. An awkward silence fell between the two. Amy didn't want to speak because she was afraid whatever she said would scare him off, and Sonic was too nervous to open his mouth. When his order arrived he instantly gulped it down. Content he said,

"That hit the stop…"

"You know, I really don't understand how you eat those everyday and not get tired!" Amy said with a smile.

"Hey, what can I say, they're so delicious!" Things seemed to start loosening up.

"Maybe I should learn how to make them, so I have at least twenty ready for my next party," she teased.

"Twenty? That's not near enough! Your parties last _hours_!"

"And you never arrive on time, Mr." she kept teasing. They were now over a minute. Improving?

"Haha, sorry. You know how I am with time. Maybe I should buy a watch," he speculated.

"You'd forget to look at it and keep track of time. It'd be a waste of money," she pointed out.

"True… hey, why don't we go over to the park? It's getting stuffy in here." Now where had that come from? Sonic wasn't sure. Delighted with the idea Amy nodded and called over the waitress. Efficiently she arrived.

"So that will be… two rings for the lady and three rings for you," the waitress told Sonic. Amy was about to pay for her ice cream when Sonic handed the waitress five rings.

"I'm paying for the lady. Have a nice day."

Dumfounded Amy stared at the hedgehog long after the waitress had left. Sonic had just paid for her ice cream! Well, he was being nice. He would probably have paid for Tails's ice cream had he eaten one. But she couldn't help not feeling special. Sonic, on the other hand, looked much more recollected.

"Hey Amy snap out of it. Let's go."

The two were walking down the park, laughing together, completely oblivious to passing time. Almost an hour had elapsed, but Sonic had soon forgotten what Tails had told him, just as the fox hoped he would. Engaged in an entertaining conversation the two hedgehogs ended up near the pond. Here Amy had a sudden urge to rent a boat. She couldn't help but think how romantic it would be if she managed to go on a boat ride with Sonic. The blue hedgehog, who seemed rather terrified of water, tried to say no to the enthusiastic Amy. However, he ceded. He could manage fifteen minutes on a boat… as long as he didn't fall into the pond.

Amy chose a row boat in good conditions and hoped in. She extended her hand in order to help Sonic, since he was afraid of falling out. Soon enough both were secured in the boat and Sonic was attempting to control the boat's direction.

"You've never done this before have you? Here, let me help you," Amy laughed.

"No, no. I'll manage. I'm Sonic!"

"Haha, alright. Gee, I wonder when the next adventure will pop up and you'll leave…and save the world again…" Amy whispered. The mood change was unexpected, but Sonic knew exactly what to say.

"It doesn't matter when it pops up or when I leave because my friends will be right beside me and that means you too." This managed to create a smile, but a sad smile. Sonic tried to decipher what it meant.

"Friend…" she murmured inaudibly. It took a few seconds for Sonic to make out the word.

"You know Ames… I don't get near water for any friend… let alone go inside a row boat and attempt rowing knowing full well that I might turn the boat over and fall into the water because I don't know how to row," he whispered back with a blush. Trying to hold in her happiness, in case Sonic only meant she was a good friend and nothing more, she looked into his eyes with only a faint smile. "Aw Amy, don't give me that smile… not when I just…just… told you…"

"Sonic, if you weren't afraid of water I'd push you right off the boat right now," she stated.

"What, why?!" He asked terrified.

"Because it took you so long, silly!"

Both hedgehogs laughed at this. Later that night Sonic had dinner at Amy's place. They held hands as they watched the stars lying down on the grass. It was all new to both, so they decided to take things slowly. It took a half a year for their relationship to become more noticeable. But through hugs, hands, and soft kisses on the cheeks both hedgehogs began to learn the concept of love. Not infatuation, love.

_Future_

It was in boring days like that one that causes Rose Amelia to wonder why she entered university. She craved adventure, action. Not desk work. Much to her dismay she had to pass law school before being part of the police. Or at least get the job she wanted. Rose was sitting down in the university's library attempting to study and memorizing a whole book. Although her exam was two months away there was no way she'd have the book memorizing by then if she only studied two weeks before the exam. So, as she bored herself to death, she began thinking about why she wanted to pass law school and why she wanted to join the police force. So she was in the midst of doing this when a silver hedgehog wearing boots sat on the couch next to her table. Intrigued by the book he was reading, The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, which was extremely old yet renown, she began observing him. The hedgehog probably noticed this because one minute later he set down the book and whispered,

"Is something wrong? Are you feeling okay?" Quite sweet of him to worry, and perhaps a little naïve. The hedgehog appeared to be only two years older than her… which meant he was either a recent alumni or still student at the university. Rose opted for the latter.

"I'm fine, sorry for disturbing you," she answered.

"It's alright. You seem kind of bored," he pointed out.

"Ha, that's what you get for trying to memorize a whole book!" she said as she pointed towards her book.

"Law school eh? I study at the university too. I'm majoring in history."

The pink hedgehog smiled. _History eh? Heh, I could be some help… _she thought for a split second. Knowing she wouldn't be able to study any longer, it just wasn't a good day for studying; she closed her book and stood up. The hedgehog observed her. At first glance he found her sense of style different, but a good different. Instead of wearing all those silver, metallic and copper colors like most people she wore dark jeans with white high heels (which were full of drawings such as peace signs and flowers) and a simple blue top.

"Leaving?" he asked. He didn't want her to leave yet.

"Yeah, I'm not in the mood for studying. Hey, would you like to have a cup of coffee with me?" She proposed. She was interested in this silver hedgehog. He was handsome, and seemed to be a very interesting character.

"Sure. The name's Silver the Hedgehog by the way."

"Silver… I like it. It's a nice name, and it defiantly suits you. I'm Rose Amelia."

The two left the library with their respective books and walked over to a nice looking café. There both ordered a cup of coffee and a little snack. They were talking about each other's majors, Rose explained her wish to join the police force and Silver his wish to teach History or become a curator of a museum, when the conversation became rather interesting.

"Say, Rose, do you believe in reincarnation?" The question bothered her. She knew it shouldn't, she knew it was an innocent question, but it bothered her nonetheless.

"I'm not sure… but… yeah, I guess," she answered.

"I was only asking because you look remarkably similar to Princess Amelia di Rosa. You probably never heard of her, it's very ancient history. But recently I've been studying the Sonic era, where the world was saved countless times by Sonic and his friends… and you look almost exactly like Amy Rose, one of the members and later on wife of Sonic himself. Maybe you Amy is Princess Amelia's reincarnation and you're Amy's reincarnation!" He teased. Rose managed to grin, but the idea bothered her.

"So you're studying that era… sounds interesting."

"It is. It's my favorite era. A cliché, I know, but I can't help it."

As the conversation went on Rose began feeling more comfortable. Silver was adorable and caring, there was no way she could dislike him. In fact she had felt something since the very beginning. Something she hadn't felt in years, and this is not a hyperbole. After spending two hours together the two hedgehogs decided to meet the next day, and the following. Soon enough they were seeing each other almost every day.

A month had passed; Rose's exam was coming up. Studying like crazy everyday in order to memorize every comma in the book, Silver sometimes dropped by with a little something to make her day. Chocolate, a flower, or sometimes even only his company. Although their relationship was not physical, and were only great friends, both knew the attraction that existed. So, three days before the exam both met up at the beach.

"Thought you weren't going to show up, Rose," Silver teased once she finally appeared.

"Sorry, couldn't find the right bikini to wear," she joked.

"That one suits you nicely. Very… hm, what's the era? 1990's"

"You're even good with clothes!" Rose hugged him. This hug lasted more than originally planned, causing both to blush when Silver let go.

"Silver… I don't want to destroy our friendship but… I can no longer keep it in… I—"

She was cut off by his lips on her own, just like in a movie. Remembering her past loves she couldn't compare them. They had all been so true, and so different. She savored the moment, kissed him back.

"Good, because neither could I," he admitted after their long kiss.

That night they slept under the stars and luminous half moon, since both knew the other half had been destroyed at the ARK incident. It felt perfect, complete. Rose had experienced something similar before, but this time it felt final.

Soon enough the two married and had three children. Surprisingly, for Rose who had always died after her life companions, she began dying first. At her deathbed, in between tears and hiccups, Silver whispered with love,

"Rose, you part now but soon I'll keep you company. It doesn't matter if sir Shadow had loved you before, or if Sonic had loved you as well, because now I love you most… my dear Amy the Hedgehog."

Complete, Rose died. She died to be born again, years later. And then, at the tender age of seventeen, she was captured and is where she is now…

_Back at the cell_

"…all three made me complete. This might sound selfish, or seem like on wasn't enough to complete me… but all three loved me in their own way, and I loved them back. Always. Why do you want to know?" she continued.

"Curiosity more than anything. You only have a few minutes left before you leave forever… so you might as well tell us, seeing as you don't know how you were capable of keeping your memories after you died and all that."

"This is you trying to punish me for something I did not even control… you can keep torturing me. Like you said, in a few minutes I will be gone. And finally I will see all my friends again."

"I see… well, when you see those three hedgehogs again, which are you most likely to hug first? Whoever you hug first was defiantly the one you loved the most…" Muslik asked.

"Probably…yes I guess so, although I did love all three."

"Stop saying that and answer!"

Content, relaxed, and calmly, Amy looked into the owner of the voice's eyes and answered,

"Very well, the one I loved most was S…"

And her last breath hung in the air while the question remained unanswered. Goodnight, Amy.

* * *

I hope you enjoyed this story! It was a way of joining my favorite couples (heh, funny how they all center around Amy... I just like any of these couples) into one story.

Amy, Shadow, Sonic, Tails, Silver (c) SEGA, Sonic Team

others (c) me

Please review and send feedback! Thanks


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